STATE COLLEGE — A mop of wet, long hair hung in Mike Zordich’s face as he stalked up and down the sideline, looking for one teammate after another.

His eye-black was smeared into his scraggly beard.

He was breathing fire, in a good kind of way.

He was smiling.

Penn State’s 236-pound blocker-turned-runner, one of the team’s senior leaders, even gets jacked up while slapping hands and backs in appreciation.

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The fullback thanking others for doing the dirty work?

Well, that’s just another head-shaking example of how this most unique Penn State season is unfolding.

While it’s not all that surprising the Nittany Lions defeated Northwestern on Saturday afternoon, 39-28 — or even that they did it in fourth-quarter, comeback fashion — it is most noteworthy how it was constructed.

This was not like the past two seasons, and certainly not much like the past 15 or so that came before it when these two teams met.

This was not simply a deeper, more-talented Penn State side eventually overwhelming the Wildcats with their physical play, or simply blitzing them from beginning to end.

This, indeed, was something much different on display in Beaver Stadium in front of a Homecoming crowd that was announced at 95,769 but was actually much smaller.

This victory, this rally from 11 points down in the fourth quarter, was built on the backs of two road-grading runners and the aggressive, gutsy play-calling and mindset of their first-year head coach.

Never was there a long enough drain of confidence. Not even when an undefeated, high-powered opponent put its foot down emphatically with a game-changing touchdown drive and a back-breaking punt return for a touchdown.

Bill O’Brien’s Lions responded with a methodical, ground-it-out offense and a defense swarming angry like yellow jackets sensing the end of early autumn.

Penn State won its fourth straight without any type of speedy, home run threat at tailback.

The Lions did it with one startling and yet successful fourth-down gamble after another.

And against a team that had just piled on a school-record 704 yards of offense the week before. The Lions’ defense, though a tad ragged in the middle minutes, dominated at the beginning and end.

Go to the postgame interview room for some insight:

O’Brien was prodded about his rationale on going for it on fourth down six times, making no less than five of them.

Especially, that decision with 9:50 to play when the Lions were at the 6-yard line, the outcome of the game probably in the balance.

A short field goal seemed the prudent choice to make it a one-possession deficit.

Instead, the Lions called a pass play, scored the touchdown and converted the ensuring two-point play.

Momentum officially was altered.

Again, it happened at a time when many coaches would have turned conservative, played the books, and kicked.

“This is just football,” O’Brien said. “I get anal about my family, my kids and my wife. I don’t get too anal about football.”

Later, he offered his thoughts on that specific play: “I thought good about the call we had there. Even though we haven’t always shown it, I just have a lot of confidence … in our ‘red area’ package. I felt good there and didn’t think twice about it and just made the play call.”

But if his guys don’t cash in on the gamble, the Wildcats get the ball with a double-digit lead, and things could be over?

O’Brien fired back: “Then, what are you going to do? You got to make the touchdown. You got to execute your play. What do you want me to say?”

The room of reporters busted out laughing, and his point was made.

This talented but handcuffed team stripped of postseason goals needs to push not only the tempo of the action but also the entire face of the game, at times.

And it needs a coach to help them.

In contrast, it also must be comfortable with stretching out other parts of the plan, relying on punishing, clock-eating, blood-and-bruised runners like Zordich and Zach Zwinak.

If fourth-down bravado is gutsy, then a running game and an offense thriving with two old-school bashers — going against college football trends — could be considered cunning or simply a well-executed act of survival.

Either way, Zwinak, the 232-pound redheaded sophomore, bounced off tacklers and gashed Northwestern much of the day with steady hammer blows.

Zordich then came in late to bulldoze the Wildcats into submission.

The late crescendo occurred when Zordich, of all people, barreled left toward the left sideline, turning the corner.

He doesn’t remember the last time he hit the edge for 25 yards at a time. Nonetheless, he scored on the next play to put it out of reach.

Before that there was Zwinak, a stunning find with his third-straight day of 90 yards and more. He finished with 121 on what he calls a lifetime high of 28 carries.

He’s the one who came to Penn State as a stud fullback recruit. He was no better than fourth on the tailback depth chart as season’s beginning.

“Trying to tackle a guy who’s 240 (pounds) is a lot different than trying to tackle a guy who’s 200,” said center Matt Stankiewitch. “A lot more beef to them, a lot more muscle to them.”

“They’re harder to stop than those speed guys,” said Jordan Hill, Penn State’s star defensive tackle. “Those are the guys who will wear you down as a defense. I love seeing that power kind of football.”

It’s about keeping the shoulder pads low, tilting the head down, churning the legs, never stopping.

After a while, a defense must soften.

“You keep truckin’ and you might get two yards here, two yards there,” Zordich said. “In the fourth quarter, people will get worn down and you keep going … and those two-yard gains turn into six-yard gains, and they turn into 10-yard gains.

Even into 25-yard blasts from a guy who barely gained that many yards all of last season.

Even into another TV-highlight day of over 100 yards from a guy who wasn’t really expected to carry the ball at all.

Add in some fourth-down aggression.

And plenty of inspired defense.

The results?

A feel-good story about an improbable four-game win streak that helps ease months of bad feelings heading into a much-deserved week off.

It’s all a bit hard to imagine, from the coach to the emerging stars to even the results.